Thursday, April 25, 2013

Hope you liked last week's adventure with Percy and Mavis. It brought the idea forward of not "Steamies vs. Diesels" But how diesels have taken total control of the mainland. It doesn't make any sense to me that in thecgi series all these new engines appear from the mainland, but most of them are steam engines. It doesn't make any sense to me, but then again most of the cgi series doesn't.

In this episode we get to go back to the China Clay Works on Edward's Branchline. Edward, Bill,Ben, and BoCo are waiting at the docks for Gordon to arrive. Gordon shows up with a special inspector who is coming to inspect the branchline. The twins think he is funny. Gordon tries to warn them about the inspector, but it is no use.

Later Bill and Ben are asked to take two seperate trains. One is a line of empty trucks that need to go back to the China Clay Works and the other is full of fruit that need to go to Wellsworth Station. The dock's manager tells them 1 whistle for the track to Wellsworth, and 2 whistles for the track to the China Clay Works. Bill thought it would be funny to have fruit trucks at the China Clay Works so he whistles twice and goes down the wrong tracks. Ben comes later and gets sent down the wrong track. He puffs back and whistles twice to go to the China Clay Works. What will the inspector do when he finds out?

This is a good lesson on knowing the right place and the right time to do things like pranks. Be sure to come check back next Thursday for our next adventure. Episode 20 - The Plumber's Express!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Any trueThomas fan should've enjoyed last weeks episode emphasizing on the important ofbrake vans. This week we get to head back up to Thomas' branchline to see what is happening between Percy and Mavis. Things haven't been going so well since Percy has begun listen to Gordon's rants about how evil diesels are.

In this episode Gordon is on another rant about diesels. Talking about how horrible they are and what not. Percy has been over hearing these rants. It scares little Percy when he hears about steam enginesgetting melted down. Percy begins believing Gordon about how awful these diesels are. That later causes troubles because it affects the way Percy treats Mavis the diesel engine. Mavis becomes upset. One day she decides to ask Percy about what's wrong. Percy explains about how scared he is and then suddenly becomes angry. He tells Mavis that she just like her stripes, Hazardous! Mavis becomes deeply offended. Will Percy be able to apologize and get Mavis' forgiveness?

This episode is really good at showing how we shouldn't stereo type people into certain categories or groups. Learn about an individual first before you make an assumption. Just like an old Thomas song goes "Don't Judge a Book By it's Cover" Be sure to come back next Thursday to watch our next adventure. Episode - 19 Inspector Troubles!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

We've spent the last two weeks with friends on Edward's Branch line. This week we are heading back to the mainline to see what our good friend Henry has been up to. It's now summer time on the island of Sodor and the island has become very busy. Henry doesn't like all the extra work.

In this episode Henry has been complaining to the other engines about the extra work. The other engines are annoyed too, but not as much as Henry. Henry decides that the brake van at the end of his train is just adding extra weight making the train heavier. So he comes up with a plan to get rid of the brake van. When he is asked to take a train, he purposely shunts the break down crane in front of his brake van and then adds his train. He is running late and the foreman sees what has happened. So he just tells Henry to run without the brake van. Henry is pleased, but will he be able to properly brake now without his brake van?

I mainly wrote this episode because of the lack ofbrake vans in the early cgi series and the late model series. Hit Entertainment didn't see much of a point having them be there. I've always liked them they were more aesthetically pleasing to me. Even when I didn't have a Tomy brake van I would add a box car at the back of a train just to look better. Lately things have improved in the CGI series. In Season 16 brake vans were seen on almost every train and new brake vans were introduced to the series too. It seems like this will continue with Arc Productions from what I've seen with the King of the Railway Trailers.

Hope you enjoy this and understand why brake vans are important for braking. Also I heard that a DVD of Season 17 episodes is going to be released in April called Railway Mischief. I really hope the writing style has changed from the "3 strikes your out" story outline. If it doesn't change in this season then I will have lost almost all hope in the writing style improving any time soon. I just want them to go back to simple and creative stories while taking advantage of the fact that these stories are about trains and not just average people. Anyways be sure to come back next Thursday to see Percy and Mavis in a little dispute in Episode 18 - Diesel Danger!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Last week we enjoyed an adventure with the China Clay Twins. This week we get to enjoy another adventure about an engine who works on Edward's Branchline. Today's episode is about BoCo and his rivalry with Gordon. Gordon is complaining about how he use to meet up with steam engines, but now only diesels are on the other railway.

This episode begins with all the engines getting ready for the day's work at Tidmouth Sheds. Gordon is on another one of his rants about diesels. BoCo sits quietly in the sheds not even bothering about what Gordon is saying. After a while he begins to be annoyed. He finally snaps back and tells Gordon that he can pull the express just as good as him. The two engines then decide to trade jobs for the day so BoCo can pull the express.

BoCo becomes too anxious about pulling the express. He becomes impatient and ends up leaving the station too fast. The guard isn't able to hop aboard the train and BoCo leaves without him. Everyone is shocked to see what has happened. BoCo later gets stopped at Wellsworth Station. He finds this odd because the express only makes one stop at Crovan's Gate during the trip. BoCo finds out about his missing guard. What will he do now?

Hope you enjoyed this new adventure about our friend BoCo. Come back next Thursday and see Henry in Episode 17 - Brake Van Troubles